


Like a ton of bricks

by Grim_Beekeeper



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, In which we ignore the Sparrow Academy, Injury, Not Canon Compliant, Number Five | The Boy-centric, Post-Canon Fix-It
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:47:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25879165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grim_Beekeeper/pseuds/Grim_Beekeeper
Summary: Five is in bad shape by the end season two, it's only been two weeks for him and I feel like that needs to be addressed. ((Aka in which Number Five has been hit by literal and emotional blows and needs serious medical attention and a hug)
Comments: 13
Kudos: 339





	1. Chapter 1

Time travel by briefcase has it’s unfortunate side effects, Five is no stranger to that but he definitely doesn’t remember laughter being one of them.  
Which is why he can’t exactly understand why he is giggling off all things. Especially considering how much it hurts right now. The amount of times he’s been pushed around, shot at and generally injured in the past two weeks would be enough punishment for anybody, not even considering the fact that this body is thirteen years old.  
But it’s over with, at least for the moment. They’ve landed in the academy, nothing looks out of place and Mom has confirmed for them that it’s the day after the apocalypse so it’s fine, everything is fine.  
When was the last time he could say that? Ever? Definitely not recently. 

Meanwhile no one’s really looking at Five, at least not that he noticed. Diego is fussing over Grace, Allison has disappeared to call her family and Vanya is having a moment with Klaus. 

Which is what makes it a real surprise when he falls and doesn’t hit the floor. Right, that’s Number One.  
Luther is relieved that everything is back to normal but everyone’s split up before he can say anything to them and that’s their prerogative, he’s planning to check on Pogo but then he sees Five go down.  
No one’s attacking them and Five’s been standing so he’s not sure what’s going but he’s close enough to catch his brother.  
A few jostles to tell if Five is conscious and the answer appears to be ‘yes but barely’. The old man grumbles a little but doesn’t otherwise respond. 

Diego notices next, he’d been talking to Grace but suddenly she’s breaking away from him. “Mom what are you-”  
He doesn’t finish the question, only needing to turn slightly to see Luther looking slightly hapless holding their oldest sibling. 

Grace moves fast in a crisis, faster than any human reasonably could “Luther take him to the infirmary- Vanya you’re coming with us.”  
If Five needs a transfusion his sisters are the best option and she doesn’t know where Allison is, she’s not about to waste time finding out. 

Five’s completely out by the time they get to the infirmary and Luther puts him down gingerly, Diego and Klaus have followed along despite not being invited, it would have been unacceptable when they were children but there’s no one to make them mind their own business.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Vanya is no stranger to blood transfusions

But all things considered they really wished they had minded their own business. Five was already passed out but it only got worse as Grace got a pair of scissors to cut off his uniform shirt and coat to get a good look at his injuries.  
It wasn’t like any ex hero could be truly disturbed by a beaten up kid, they’d been beaten up kids, plus this was Five, he was older than all of them and more stubborn to boot. Even Vanya for all her concern wasn’t ready for how broken down Five was. 

He’s bruised as hell, two weeks of hand to hand combat topped off with having a literal brick wall come down on him, that’s to be expected. But still, there’s the bandages Grace had put on after he collapsed in Harold’s, it’s been over a week and he hasn’t bothered to change it, He’ll be lucky if it’s not infected. Most of his other wounds are, including a nasty gash on his forearm. 

Vanya’s heart dropped, she knows that wound and it seems like literal ages ago that she sat in her living room tending it. Somehow she finds her voice before her brothers, hardened soldiers that they are, they can’t think of anything to say right now.  
“How...How long has it been for him?”  
“Two weeks” Luther answers back and suddenly he can feel three pairs of eyes on him at once, Klaus and Vanya are concerned.   
Diego rubbed his temple, resisting the urge to yell at Luther.  
“How can you possibly know that?”   
“He told me- when we were at the restaurant with the other him”   
“Time travel is a trip” Klaus interrupted, he knew the look on Diego’s face and it seemed like an interrogation was about to go down. Which Klaus knows from personal experience is not a pleasant thing to have at your bedside when you’re sick and injured. 

To top off the interruption into the conversation he’s looped an arm around Diego’s shoulders, tugging him away so he wasn’t staring directly at Five when Grace stuck him in the collar bone. He sighs comedically as Diego tries to push him off.   
“God we’re affectionate today aren’t we. We’re holding vigil until he wakes up right?” It was less of a question and more a confirmation that Klaus wasn’t the only one who intended on staying by Five.   
“Yes” Vanya confirmed though she didn’t have much choice in the matter, Grace moved fast and had already tapped Vanya. Number Seven is no stranger to being used as an impromptu blood donor and she had taken a seat without her siblings even noticing it. 

An awkward moment of silence passes before Grace clears her throat, she doesn’t need to, she might not even have a throat but it’s a gentle sound to get her boys’ attention.   
“Luther darling go tell Allison what’s going on, You two bring some snacks for Vanya. Once she’s done I may need someone to take her place.”   
“You got it Mom”   
Klaus smiled, wider then he really felt like giving but for her he’ll put on a brave face. The boys have their tasks and Vanya waits with her little brother. 

That’s how she’s thinking of him right now, she knows he’s older than he looks, older than any of them but he doesn’t look like it. He looks young, helpless. Vulnerable in a way he never did when they were kids, maybe it’s because they were kids together and none of them really knew how bad things were but she’s not a little kid anymore, she’s an adult and one who’s spent the last few months growing to love a child who wasn’t that much younger than Five was. 

Vanya looks at her Mom, wondering if the automaton is just as worried, just as scared as she was.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which I try to figure out how an android would think

Grace Hargreeves was not an easily unsettled woman. She is, as many could point out, not a woman at all.   
It doesn’t bother her, she knows enough about humanity and being separate from it is no great grief. She does not eat, or sleep, or breathe, she is not human. Clearly. 

But she is a mother. An indestructible nanny turned mother but mother nonetheless. You cannot spend your life teaching, tending and taking care of seven little souls without learning things to love about each and everyone of them.   
You cannot lose two sons before their eighteenth birthday and be unaffected by it. 

You cannot turn away when your dearest little Diego seems so worried for reasons you can’t place. He asked if you were alright and you cooed in comfort that of course you were and you’re about to ask just what the matter is but then you’re needed elsewhere. 

That’s not strange, so many little ones to attend to, well they’re not so little anymore but the fact remains; when someone faints you have to put comfort on the back burner. 

Luther is always so helpful but he doesn’t know what to do now that he’s got his baby brother cradled in his arms like the precious thing he is. 

So you give orders, Luther’s already carrying Five and you know he won’t do anything to hurt him. But how badly is he hurt already. 

You’ll have to find out and so you give orders and you move, Luther is on your heels and Vanya is a close second. The others are hovering but that doesn’t matter, once Five is on the bed you assess his injuries, silently grateful that Vanya sits without arguing, you’re sure you’ll need her but you remember how she used to fight when she was young. 

It had been frustrating, frustrating but not unsettling.   
Grace Hargreeves does not become unsettled easily. 

But this is unsettling. She couldn’t say she understands why Five is still as young as he is but she has only just gotten him back and he’s already getting into so much trouble, his siblings let him do it too. They’re a team, they should be protecting each other. More than that he is still a child, they’re the grown ups here and they should be keeping an eye on him.   
She is not about to lose another one of her boys. 

It’s only after she’s sent off her hovering brood, started the transfusion from Vanya and listened to Five’s heart does she notice the way her daughter is staring at her.   
Vanya is quiet, she’s always been the watcher but it’s still very obvious when something is on her mind.   
“I’m sure Five will be okay sweetheart, you don’t need to look so worried” Grace offers a brief smile but she hasn’t stopped moving. She should have told one of the boys to get Pogo, a second set of hands would be useful right around now. 

“You don’t look sure” Vanya responded, voice low and doubtful. She’s familiar with restrained emotions and Mom isn’t that hard to read if you know what you’re looking for. She’s worn worry the same way for as long as Vanya can remember. 

Grace’s expression flickers and she shakes her head. Vanya is an adult, perhaps she doesn’t need to sugar coat things. “I hope he will be, but even the best outcome means a long recovery and you know how he hates that”


	4. Chapter 4

Vanya laughed, not that it was the appropriate reaction but Five did hate being stuck in one place. He was the boy to pretend he wasn’t sick even if he was (so was Diego but Five was better at the act) and recovering from major injuries was undoubtedly going to leave them with one cranky old man. 

Hopefully. Vanya reached over, taking one of Five’s hands gingerly. He can be as cranky about it as he wants as long as he pulls through. 

She’s not sure how long she spends just watching him to make sure he’s still breathing but it’s long enough that Mom has bandaged his wounds and stopped the transfusion in favor of some standard IV drip.   
Vanya is no longer tethered in place but she doesn’t move away and it’s not until Klaus gets back to hand her a juice box that she lets go of Five’s hand. 

Where Klaus got a juice box is a good question, they certainly weren’t kept at the academy but it does explain why he’s been gone so long. It doesn’t explain where Diego went but that’s a question for another time. 

Vanya sips at her juice and Klaus joins her, sitting in an uncomfortable chair he drags in from another room. He’s silent for a while, not a normal state for him but his eyes are shifting between Five and Vanya, he’s waiting patiently for his sister to get some calories before he starts talking to her.   
“...Are you doing okay? I know he’s your favorite”   
“Klaus I don-”   
“Shush, he’s mine too right now.” He shut down the defense with a laugh, poking fun at the situation in general but he’s looking for an answer to the question.   
“Come on, you can tell your big brother”   
“We’re the same age”   
“Debatable, now spill” 

Vanya chewed the straw of her juice box for a moment, putting her feelings into as few words as possible.   
“I’m worried about him, scared...and pissed at you-” She pushed Klaus lightly in the shoulder, equal parts playful and venting, he stared owlishly, confused but waiting for her to explain.   
“-well not just you, all of you..I never did the superhero thing but all of you did, you did it with him- weren’t you supposed to notice if someone got hurt? You got hurt a lot”   
“We did, didn’t we, I guess some parts of being a child soldier just don’t stick. Huh…” 

Klaus wasn’t sure what to say to that, she had a point but his deeper consideration was interrupted.   
“Sorry- I know it’s not your fault”   
“Don’t be sorry...Someone should have noticed” 

It was an uncomfortably calm and sober statement from Klaus. Something about him trying to be serious has always come off as morose and deathly. He’d rather keep things light.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some fluffy filler before getting back to Five.

But keeping it light for the next few days was a real effort. Sure the apocalypse was gone but there were other issues.  
Allison had flown the coop as soon as she was able. She hadn’t seen her daughter in years and she loves her siblings but they can manage just fine without her. There were tears of course, some hers, most of them her brothers’. Klaus would miss her and Luther well..Luther was an adult, she could leave him to deal with whatever he was dealing with. 

Vanya had to cancel a month’s worth of violin lessons to some less than content parents.   
Diego was fuming about some combination of lost love and lost presidents, not that he was too busy to take Vanya’s phone and deal with angry parental units for her. 

Vanya had let it happen for about an hour before hearing Diego threaten an eighty two year old grandfather. She had to double back through the list of everyone her brother had called and make sure none of them were going to call the police on her. 

She managed it but she is not a people pleaser and afterwards she’d spent at least an hour sobbing into Klaus’s chest.   
All things considered Klaus took it in stride, there was more than enough reason to cry things out.   
Afterwards Klaus spent the evening trying to cheer her up, brownies were involved. Weed might also have been involved but that was between them and the brownies. 

Diego joined them eventually as well, it wasn’t on purpose but he’d had to go through the kitchen and the fact that Vanya was giggling made him stop and pause. Just in time to watch this conversation go down.   
“You know Klaus, I think we should go shopping”   
“Ooh, yes we should, you know what’s funny? I don’t own shit, I left all of it in the sixties”   
“We could get mac and cheese”   
Diego wanted to point out that they already had both macaroni and several cheeses, but he also wanted to see where this was going.   
“We could- or clothes, do you need new clothes mein Liebling Sieben?”   
“Do you?”   
Silence hung in the air for a moment before Klaus stood up. He hadn’t answered the question but a decision had been made.   
“Where are the car keys?”   
“I’ll drive” Diego butted in, he was not letting either of them get in an accident like this. Never mind the fact that no one in the family had a valid I.D anymore. 

Much to his surprise Klaus and Vanya agreed without arguing and he didn’t need to put much effort into herding them into the back of the sedan.   
Better yet not once in thirty minutes of him driving them around do they notice that they’re going in circles and both of them fall asleep in short order.   
When he eventually pulls back into the academy driveway and looks back it’s objectively adorable. Vanya still has her seat belt on while Klaus has migrated out of his seat and is curled protectively around her.


	6. Chapter 6

Number Five Hargreeves dreams of the apocalypse. Of uncertain footing in the rubble and caustic air that burns in his lungs.   
It isn’t a nightmare, it is where he grew up, it is where he belongs. He doesn’t question the hazy way the land shifts or the fact that he’s been wandering for far too long without water. 

It takes the figures shifting in the distance to make him realize something is wrong. First it’s the cowboy in the distance..then glances of a young girl on a bicycle.   
He doesn’t know what to make of it and before he can make a logical conclusion things change. 

It’s jarring when things snap back to reality, his eyes are closed but he can hear the beeping of a heart monitor and feel the leads attached to his chest.   
It’s familiar but at the same time deeply alarming. He sits up too quickly, pulling painfully at medical equipment.   
Five doesn’t think much of it, trying to get the lay of the room but before he can process everything he’s looking at someone tries to push him back into bed. 

It earns a disgruntled swat but he lays down regardless, the hand in question is practically the width of his chest and it’s hard to argue with that. Not that he’s about to take it without griping.   
“Luther do we need have a talk about personal space”   
“You need to lay down”   
“I’m sure I’ve been doing far too much of that-” 

Luther takes his hand away and Five sits up, slowly this time. He’s eyeing his brother warily to see if he’s about to be pushed back again but Luther is just looking at him.   
“-And you don’t need to stare”   
“I’m not staring, just glad you’re awake, asshole” Luther huffed, half moving to lean back in his chair and cross his arms defensively.   
He didn’t expect Five to sniffle. 

Five didn’t expect Five to sniffle and it takes him a minute to recognize the sensation for what it is. When was the last time he’d cried? Decades ago, it was a sensation foreign to him and Five was half convinced he’d lost the ability. Crying was a human thing. 

Five is sure he hasn’t been human in a very long time. 

Whatever he is he’s been staring into space with tears running down his face and Luther has been trying to talk to him but he hasn’t noticed. 

“-Five I said I’m sorry- Five? Are you listening?” Luther sighed, he didn’t think an insult could upset his brother but here he is in tears and he’s not sure what to do about it, at least not when The Boy seems set on not listening to a single thing he has to say. 

A last ditch effort and he pat’s Five on the shoulder, not sure if he’s trying to comfort him or anger him into snapping out of it.


	7. Chapter 7

The next thing he knows Five is clinging to him. Not hugging exactly but Five’s too small to really do that and he’s settled for pressing close to his brother, hands curled into the fabric of Luther’s shirt and it doesn’t seem like he’ll let go any time soon.   
Naturally, Luther wants to question this because when was the last time Five hugged anyone, ‘physically affectionate’ does not seem like a phrase that is in his brother’s vocabulary, much less the kind of action that he would actually take. 

But there’s no time to question it. There’s a very distinct feeling that comes with having a child -or someone child shaped- crying in your arms and it is not one Luther has experienced...ever.   
Five is sobbing and it’s discordant for more than a few reasons. With everything that’s happened in the past days, it’s hard to imagine anything getting under his skin, even as a child Five was too arrogant for his own emotions, at least that was how it seemed. He might just have been the only one who could find space to genuinely cry in private, who knows. 

It’s a mystery for another day, Luther decides, so he pulls his brother a little closer, arms wrapped carefully around him. 

Five meanwhile is as embarrassed as he has ever been but that emotion is not enough to keep him away from Luther. It’s buried under too much trauma and pain for him to give one solitary shit about it.  
He has seen his brother’s dead body more times than anyone should, more times than should physically be possible. There is a course of events that humans are not meant to survive and Five has lived it. Child soldier, last person on earth for decades and vehement contract killer for the remaining years. 

He was not expecting to make it out the other end. Keeping his family safe, that was the goal and he’s done it, mostly. Luther’s here and Luther isn’t letting go of him and Five is shattered. He doesn’t know if he feels like a child exhausted or an old man terrified because he hadn’t planned to keep going this long.   
It doesn’t matter much, either way, he’s crying until he isn’t. Five can’t claim to know how long it is but when he finally starts to calm down he’s startled to feel someone’s hand in his hair, he hadn’t heard anyone come into the room but he was distracted.   
Luther’s hands are still very much accounted for and some snappy part of Five Hargreeves doesn’t know what to do about being pet “Do you want to keep those fingers?”   
That...was probably not the right response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who walked in? I don't know either.


	8. Chapter 8

Klaus had come in, still a little out of it but ready to take over for Luther. After all, watching a kiddo sleep didn’t require that much effort on his part, and he probably could have done it drunk instead of just buzzed. 

What he was not expecting to come into was Luther sitting on the edge of Five’s bed and..holding him. Whatever he wanted to say about the situation was put aside at the realization that Five was very much awake and very much crying. It was bound to happen sooner or later and here was hoping dearest Numero Uno hadn’t made it worse. 

Klaus stares for a moment longer, assessing the situation until Luther mouthes for him to “come here.”   
Klaus raises his hands in mock surrender and comes over, perched awkwardly next to Luther. He’s not sure what he’s expected to do here so he just runs a hand along the back of Five’s head, gentle hands are something the boy definitely needs more of. 

Still, the reaction he gets isn’t surprising. It’s just hard to take that snapping seriously when Five doesn’t even try to look at him.   
“Do you want to keep those fingers?”   
Klaus responds lightly, still petting Five like the discontented cat he behaves as.   
“Well I’d have to say I am in the pro finger camp but let’s not get too political” 

There’s a moment of quiet and Five squirms away from Luther enough to look back at Klaus, he’s still hiccupy and Klaus desperately wants to give him a tissue because he’s red around the eyes and his face is wet.   
“..Sorry” 

That was definitely not the reaction he expected and Klaus’s expression goes soft, how could it not? Five looks like a scared little kid who’s just been scolded. He’s not, part of Klaus does know that but still. You’d have to be blind not to see it.   
Judging by the look of confusion on Luther’s face he definitely doesn’t get it. 

So Klaus shakes his head, bringing his hands up to squish Five’s cheeks. “Don’t worry about it mi Hermano, tease all you want. You thirsty?” 

It’s a completely mundane question and that paired with the utter indignity of hands on his face takes Five by surprise and he nods.   
“A bit, but I don’t-”   
“I’ll get you something, Lulu you don’t mind staying with him a bit longer do you? No? Great.” 

Klaus bounced up and away with surprising speed, he wasn’t even really asking for Luther’s opinion, just letting him know that he was going and presumably he would be back. 

Which left Five and Luther sitting in silence and still entangled with each other. Five sighed, letting his head drop and thunk again his brother’s chest again.   
“Glad to see he’s okay” By ‘okay’, Five, of course, meant weird as hell.


End file.
